ACT Aboriginal Children’s Forum Communiques

26 March 2026

The ACT Aboriginal Children’s forum meeting held on 26 March 2026 was co-chaired by Yerrabi Yurwang and the Health and Community Services Directorate.

Yerrabi Yurwang provided an acknowledgement of Country.

Members acknowledged the recent passing of respected Ngunnawal Elder, Uncle Fred and held a minute silence.

The forum welcomed new members Dr Kate Alexander, CEO, Barnardos and Dr Robyn Miller, CEO, MacKillop Family Services.

HCSD provided an overview of the National Aboriginal Children’s Day event held at Namadgi School. Members agreed to participate in both the planning meetings and the event.

Members discussed approaches to strengthening training and cultural capability across AACF member organisations. This included, exploring the development of a shared training calendar, considering different training types and delivery models and identifying gaps in current training across the sector. Members agreed that further work is needed to better understand common training needs and gaps across organisations.

Members endorsed a forward meeting calendar to guide activity and priorities for the year. Planned activities include participation in a Maliyan cultural connections workshop facilitated by Yerrabi Yurwang and confirmed Organisation showcase presentations for the year.

Work continued to the development of a shared Cultural Accountability tool with a draft set of common questions circulated. Members considered the draft tool, acknowledged the complexity in developing a single, shared tool and discussion highlighted the differing perspectives on the definition of Kinship. Members agreed that further work is required to refine the draft for consideration at the next meeting.

Members were joined by Rooftop Social and Curijo who facilitated a consultation on the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Project. The consultation focused on the draft outcomes logic and measures for the Next Step Domain areas of Our Booris Our Way and Strengthening Families. Members provided valuable feedback to be incorporated into an updated outcomes logic and measures framework.

Dr Lisa Griffiths presented an overview of the Allies for Children Australia Partnership,including the Allies for children Parliament event. The presentation highlighted the work of the Allies for Children and a commitment from partner NGOs to work on addressing three priority areas: Reducing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out-of-home-care; youth justice and workforce challenges.

Key Assets delivered a presented outlining their organisation’s work, including its strategic roadmap and the transformation journey to embed cultural responsiveness and safety into practice within the organisation.

27 November 2025

The ACT Aboriginal Children’s forum meeting held on 27 November 2026 was co-chaired by Yerrabi Yurwang and the Health and Community Services Directorate.

Yerrabi Yurwang provided an acknowledgement of Country.

HCSD presented an update on the monitoring, evaluation and learning project. Rooftop Social is leading the project with Curijo who will lead the cultural co-design. Discussion highlighted the importance of the local Aboriginal Community-Controlled influence on the work and members were asked to consider opportunities to engage with the project.

Work continued to the development of a shared Cultural Accountability tool with in-principle agreement to develop a common set of questions. Members discussed the interplay of the tool with practice, opportunity to extend the tool to be applied in the early intervention space and different models to extrapolate data that aligns with organisations systems and capabilities.

The updated Cultural Clauses and Practice guidance were endorsed with Deed variations set to be completed in early 2026.

The forum was joined by the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Michael Pettersson, MLA who thanked members for their commitment to the work being progressed through the forum.

The 2026 workplan and communication and engagement plan were endorsed. Members discussed bi-annual cultural accountability reporting, development of a shared training calendar, two-way communication with the local Aboriginal community and the plans referencing all organisations represented at the forum.

The ACT Children’s Commissioner and HCSD presented on the Implementation of the 2025 Care and Protection Organisation Standards. Benefits are an alignment with the Child Safe Standards Scheme, reduced standards for 18 to 6, reduced duplication and streamline reporting and requirement to ensure services are culturally safe. Next steps include Registered Care and Protection Organisation to work with the Human Services Registrar to complete their first compliance review.

2 August 2025

The ACT Aboriginal Children’s forum meeting held on 2 August 2026 was co-chaired by Yerrabi Yurwang and the Health and Community Services Directorate.

Yerrabi Yurwang provided a Welcome to Country.

Agenda items included monitoring and reporting supported by shared accountability tools. Members provided advice on an AACF communication and engagement strategy. Members discussed success markers and building these into the AACF's first 12-month work plan. Contract cultural clauses were reviewed for update and endorsement at the next meeting.

Health and Community Services Directorate (HCSD) showcased CYF’s system reform work that is successfully embedding Aboriginal leadership, guidance and support across all areas of the CYF Division and with sector partners.

HCSD presented work led by the ACT Human Services Registrar reforming Care and Protection Organisation (CAPO) registration and regulatory standards to reduce bureaucracy and improve clarity.

Barnardos presented the Monitoring & Review Framework (MRF) which enables quality assurance and continuous improvement. Benefits are improved collaboration, uplift in practice, and better compliance with reporting and cultural planning. Barnardos also talked through challenges as they embed the tool into everyday practice.

28 May 2025

The ACT Aboriginal Children’s forum meeting held on 28 May 2025 was co-chaired by Yerrabi Yurwang and the Community Service Directorate.

Yerrabi Yurwang providing a smoking and Welcome to Country.

Key topics discussed:

• Overview of the Office of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner.
• Discussion on the draft Terms of Reference inclusive of:
  • Engaging with all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations in this space that are working with children and young people; and
  • Development of a communication approach and mechanisms to communicate work being progressed by the Forum.
• OzChild delivered a presentation on the Clinical Audit Tool currently completed every 6 months for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children they support. Agreed that Barnardo's will share the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework established under Our Booris our Way Recommendation as another example of auditing for cultural aspects of casework practice and support
• Community Services Directorate (CSD) gave a presentation on Care and Protection Organisation (CaPO) registration and regulatory schemes for service providers in this space, inclusive of:
  • Revising and updating standards to ensure they are contemporary and culturally safe;
  • Consideration to be given on how to make this process as least restrictive for other Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in this space;
  • Aims to reduce administrative burden; and
  • Flexible approach with consideration given to potential duplication across multiple regulatory requirements.
• Yerrabi Yurwang presented work and programs they are delivering.